Woman finds hidden camera in Travelodge room while taking a shower

The hotel's initial response was so weird

A 23-year-old woman from Edinburgh was left shocked after she discovered a hidden camera as she showered in a Travelodge bathroom.

Harmony Hachey, who was staying at the Oxford Wheatley Travelodge for business, says she felt "violated" when she found the device and broke down at the invasion of privacy.

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Describing her disturbing discovery the Daily Mail, Harmony explained how she noticed an air vent next to the shower cubicle. While she presumed she was being paranoid about the vent, she decided to investigate.

"When I got out of the shower I poked around in the vent a little bit and the camera was being held up by white tape and it looked like it was trying to be hidden. I pulled the tape away and it was blatantly obvious it was a camera pointing at me while I was showering."

Facebook/harmony.hache2

Harmony said she then alerted hotel staff, who traced the camera back to a caretaker's closet. Luckily, it wasn't attached to anything at the time, but questions have been raised over why it was there in the first place. She wrote on TripAdvisor:

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"Because there was no live streaming or attachment downloading the footage at the time, the matter is trying to be swept under the rug. But how long was the camera there? Who was in that shower before me? Families? Children? What would have happened if I didn't find it!?"

Facebook/harmony.hache2

Weirdly, Harmony claims management then told her that the camera was there for "maintenance". "She told me to calm down and there was no footage on there. But no one had looked."

Explaining how the camera was removed, she wrote on Facebook: "He used a plastic bag to take it out - tried to touch it to see what was inside and I had to tell him to keep his hands off it!! It was all dealt with so terribly! Dodgy and inconsistent stories amongst staff and management!"

Harmony later gave a statement to Thames Valley Police, who have confirmed that a camera was recovered for examination. They say they are now working with Travelodge to investigate the incident further.

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Facebook/harmony.hache2

A spokeswoman for Travelodge told the Daily Mail: "While the camera appeared to be inoperative, we have reported this matter to the police and we are now supporting them fully with their ongoing investigations."

Harmony wrote on Facebook thanking everyone for their support, adding that hopefully her experience "can create awareness so this type of thing never happens again! Always be vigilant and always check your surroundings! Can't trust anyone."